Acoustic

Jake ClineCity Link Staff Writer

Yarko Antonevych

Members: Yarko Antonevych (bandura).

Comments: Antonevych, who lives in Miami Beach, grew up in Canada and is of Ukrainian ancestry. His instrument, the bandura, is quite unorthodox in the United States, even though its the most popular instrument in the Ukraine. Antonevychs oblong-shaped banduras range from 50 to 72 strings and sound like a cross between a harp and a harpsichord. While most bandurists in the Ukraine concentrate on sacred, ancestral music, Antonevych blends folk, classical and even Led Zeppelin songs. Hes opened for Richie Havens on an Indian reservation and played a corporate function for the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee. Hes working on a compilation CD encompassing his three albums.

Contact: 305/673-6936.

Scott Avery

Members: Scott Avery (vocals, guitar).

Comments: "Acoustic music with loud shirts" is how Avery describes his performances at venues like The Kings Head Pub in Sunrise and The Duck in Boca Raton. "I say that because right now Im wearing a shirt with ukuleles on it. As you get older, your shirts get louder and your music gets quieter." Actually, Avery has a background in Irish pop, which he still plays at Waxy OConnors in Fort Lauderdale with bassist Peter White, who also joins him for gigs at Tavern 213. Avery, White and drummer Tim Kuchta play every Friday at The Duck while Avery goes it alone every Thursday at The Kings Head. "Theres a different vibe there because I can just go in any direction," Avery says. The singer-songwriter had planned to release a solo CD called Pseudo Beach this year, but instead became involved with another, more important production: the birth of his daughter. "The baby thing sort of put the CD on ice," he says.

Comments: Named for the street in downtown West Palm Beach, Banyan Street Jug Band describe their repertoire as a mix of "1920s and 30s Memphis street band, good-time blues and hillbilly music and a few classic rock and original tunes in the jug-band style." With longtime partners Kendall on National steel slide and six- and 12-string guitars, and Burdick on mandolin and guitar, this talented bunch also includes "North Carolina songbird" Walker on vocals and the Bamboo Rooms own "Twenty-Dollar Bill" on washboard and Russ Hibbard on jug. Hibbard, who owns and operates the Bamboo Room with his wife, Karen McKinley, plays an old cider jug tricked up with a tuba mouthpiece, which allows him a degree of chromaticism unavailable to his predecessors. The Banyan Streeters frequently play Wednesdays at the Bamboo Room and have been working on a CD.

Contact: 561/832-4263 or e-mail rfk1123@juno.com.

Peter Betan

Members: Peter Betan (vocals, guitar).

Comments: Finger-style guitarist Betan is quite proud of the fact that when he plays acoustically, he really plays acoustically, meaning you wont hear sequencers or drum machines at his performances. I pride myself on being one of the few unsequenced acts in South Florida, says Betan, overlooking every other artist in this list. I have more of a purist attitude when I play. I rely on my instrument and my abilities. So far, that attitude has led to Betans selling more than 100,000 copies of his original-music cassettes as well as a once-a-year gig in New York City and a recent article in the trade magazine ASCAP Playback that garnered Betan worldwide attention. At home, Betan plays most Borders bookstores as well as the occasional Friday at Chocolada in Hollywood. Hes working on two new CDs, Higher Ground and the all-instrumental The Angels Are Listening.

Comments: This year, Dos Gringos marked a decade of playing 1960s-inspired rock by the likes of The Byrds, Neil Young and, of course, The Beatles. While Sheffield and de Vise, both local journalists, are veterans of the Borders bookstore circuit, they also have played an array of atypical venues, including Boca Raton City Hall, Mars Music Amphitheatre, the opening of a Linda McCartney photo exhibition (the very pinnacle of cool gigs, de Vise says) and many environmental-themed charity events. The duo also has backed Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin as well as Miami Herald humor columnist Dave Barry in a Rock Bottom Remainders-type outfit at benefits and parties.

Contact: 954/527-8413.

Scott Goldblatt

Members: Scott Goldblatt (guitar, vocals).

Comments: Im going back to the roots, admits Dania Beach singer-guitarist Goldblatt, doing a lot of the things Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna did. Goldblatt also admits an appreciation for the Rev. Gary Davis, whose songs he performs at venues like Java Island in Plantation, the Chat Room Cafe in Hollywood and the Chocolate Moose in Davie. Goldblatt recently discovered he had a knack for childrens music when he began writing songs for his niece and nephew. And when he doesnt have a guitar in his hand, its usually because hes holding a camera. Goldblatt is also a nature photographer whose underwater shots of sea turtles in the Bahamas and sunsets on Hollywood Beach recently were displayed at the Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts in Plantation as part of the show Harvesting Floridas Best. A lot of the shooting inspires the lyrics to the songs, Goldblatt says, citing as an example the song Silence of the Mountains, which he wrote following a trip to Yosemite National Park. People call it my masterpiece, he says. That whole journey led to a lot of really positive things. With the art shows, the lyrics from the songs have been incorporated into the photography displays. Its more than I ever thought I would be doing artistically.

Contact: 954/987-0459.

Darrell House

Members: Darrell House (vocals, guitar).

Comments: It was both a good year and a bad year for singer-guitarist House, whos been a fixture on the local acoustic scene for the past 26 years. Bad because some of his longtime gigs began drying up like puddles in July. Pier 66 let me go after three and a half years, and Im down to one night [Thursdays] at Brus Room, House says, adding with a laugh that he recently has worked some yacht club jobs. House credits the relaxing of his gig schedule to the slumping economy. But in keeping with Houses jovial nature, theres a positive side to this, as well. Im at the point where I would like to move away from the bars and more into the kids stuff, he says, referring to the childrens music and books hes been writing for the past several years. Houses CD Under the Cushions on the Couch has earned him a number of fans in the 2- to 4-feet-tall range, as have his books A Dolphins Tale and Miller the Green Caterpillar. The kid shows are getting better and better, House says of his performances at local libraries and bookstores. Ive added stories to it and am doing some poetry. I get so tickled with these kids. I laugh at their responses to my songs. Recently, House returned to the place of his own childhood, Middletown, Ohio, to play for about 100 kids at the elementary school he attended 40 years ago. My great-niece and great-nephew now go there, House says. It was just the best show I ever did anytime, anywhere. People who say you cant go home again dont know what theyre talking about.

Comments: Little Jack and Friends are influenced by the great singer-songwriters of the 1970s (including Leonard Cohen, Phil Ochs and, especially, Fred Neil), whose songs they perform alongside their own roots-rocking originals. The quartet recently released its debut CD, Past Due, a collection of acoustic and electric folk-rock songs written by Little Jack, McBride and vocalist Vanessa Wright, with whom Jack once performed in the band Empathy. As for this groups singer, the one-named Stephanie, Little Jacks daughter discovered her at a karaoke bar last year and shes been a Friend ever since. Look for the troupe at neighborhood bars like Rosey Baby in Lauderhill.

Contact: 954/462-8018.

Grant Livingston

Members: Grant Livingston (vocals, guitar).

Comments: For the past 20 years, Livingstons music has documented the other Florida -- you know, the Florida obscured by all the Miami City Hall scandals, O.J. Simpson dustups and butterfly ballots. Of course, no Floridian songwriter worth his guitar strings could ignore the tabloid culture thriving right in his back yard, and Livingston doesnt. But hes much more concerned with the Florida he fell in love with as a boy, the state where he can go fishing just about anytime he wants to, where he can actually breathe clean air when he so desires and where history is written on everything from the sand on Miami Beach to the stones of Coral Castle. Livingstons songs can be both down-home and whimsical, a dichotomy thats in full bloom on his new CD, Let Me Off the Leash. Whether giving a brief, rewarding history lesson about Floridas discovery by Spanish explorers on Walk With Dr. George or stalking through an old graveyard on Le Chat Gris Gris, Livingston is clearly in his element, as his deft finger-picking is augmented by a rootsy assortment of fiddles, accordions, clarinet and ragtime piano. Livingston also contributed to several compilation CDs this year, including a disc devoted to Florida songwriters sponsored by the Will McLean Foundation called These Diamonds, named after one of Livingstons own songs. Livingston can be found at most folk showcases and festivals and often at the Main Street Cafe in Homestead, where he plays alone or accompanied by various guitarists and percussionists. Im primarily a solo act, Livingston says, but when I get a chance to play with other people I do.

Contact: 305/444-1230.

Rod MacDonald

Members: Rod MacDonald (vocals, guitar).

Comments: An internationally known singer-songwriter with roots in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1970s-80s, MacDonald has made his home in Palm Beach County since the early 90s. Hes a born storyteller, relaying songs of personal and universal experience with great insight, empathy and humor on albums for labels such as Gadfly and Shanachie. He hasnt produced a new CD since 1999s Into the Blue but his first album, 1983s No Commercial Traffic, is finally being released on CD. I remember when we shot photos of me playing the guitar walking across the Avenue of the Americas in SoHo (when the light changed and there were no cars), MacDonald writes in an e-mail, with the twin towers [of the World Trade Center] high in the background, just lighting up in the indigo sky of early evening. Look for the CDs release date, as well as MacDonalds performance schedule, at www.rodmacdonald.net.

Comments: Longtime friends Seiberling and Alfano formed the acoustic duo version of NetheresQue to play at area open-mike nights in hopes of recruiting a bassist and drummer to eventually form a band. Earlier this year, they got halfway there by incorporating Meredith, who doubles on drums and percussion (as Alfano does on electric and acoustic guitars). They recorded a four-song demo in November with fretless wiz Randy Ward, but are still in search of a bassist. The acoustic trio often performs at the Underground Coffee Works in West Palm Beach, playing originals and an array of covers from Radiohead and Pearl Jam to Bob Dylan and a slate of unorthodox Beatles tunes (Happiness Is a Warm Gun, I Am the Walrus, So Tired, Glass Onion, Yer Blues).

Contact: 561/478-2231 or NetheresQue@aol.com. Marie Nofsinger

Members: Marie Nofsinger (vocals, guitar, percussion).

Comments: In 1998, Delray Beach singer-songwriter Nofsinger released Boots, a brilliant album of blues- and country-inflected narratives written by a woman whos seen it all, and still hungers to see some more. The CDs depth of character and musicality made it South Floridas equivalent of Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and it earned Nofsinger tons of recognition and countless fans. A followup, however, has been long in coming, as Nofsinger was sidelined for much of 2000 by a nasty throat ailment, and this year, long past tired of dealing with unscrupulous bar owners, Nofsinger began to ask herself why she even bothered. And then she found the answer -- three times. First, a musician friend in Austin graciously began posting her songs on MP3.com in hopes of turning more people on to her music. Then, I went to Florence, Italy, she says. I needed to be where people loved music and art. ... I learned that 90 percent of the people in Florence were artists and were supported by the other 10 percent. Thats love. Back home in November, Nofsinger appeared on Michael Stocks Folk and Acoustic Music show on WLRN (91.3-FM). She was there to promote her show that evening at Miamis Luna Star Cafe but really wasnt anticipating a large turnout. She got one anyway. I needed that gig, she says. It was so real and so unpretentious and so genuine. God, it was a shot in the arm. Nofsinger says she now has enough new material to fill a double-album, which shes considering recording entirely at home. I need to make a record now, she says. I just want to get back in it. In the meantime, look for the ever-engaging artist at venues like the CG Cafe in Lake Worth as well as that citys Bamboo Room, where she and fellow songwriter Theresa Lindstrom host a monthly bluegrass night.

Comments: Formed in 1988, Peters Road Swamp-Blues Band claims to be the oldest swamp-music group in the country. Whether or not thats true, its certain that the band members have no problem getting their mud boots wet on original, Florida-centric numbers like Flamingo Road Kill Cafe, Take a Right Turn at the Dead Dog and Jim Billies Hat, written in honor of the Seminole Indian chief. Its basically acoustic roadhouse country music, says Boomslang, who plays a pre-World War I plectrum banjo he found as a boy in his familys attic. One would think you couldnt find that many songs about the Everglades, but we do. Even though the band is based in Broward County, local performances by them are rare, although the group often plays festivals and events in Central and North Florida. Peters Road was scheduled to play a recent benefit for Fort Lauderdales Stranahan House, but that was scrapped over fears that Hurricane Michelle would hit our shores. The band will play Fridays City Link Music Fest, however.

Comments: Self-described flower children, the Maldonados perform original, harmonious, folk-based pop and rock. In 1999, they released their first album, Blue, which is receiving airplay from WVUM (90.5-FM) and contains 13 melodic tunes written, performed and produced by the couple, including Nature of Your Way, Leaving Us Alone, Isles of Blue and Sensitivity. The Maldonados say they wanted the album to capture the beauty and simplicity of live acoustic music. The songs, which mostly are about love, contain introspective lyrics and climactic, inspirational arrangements. Blue is available at the Virgin Megastore in South Miami, Borders in Aventura and Fort Lauderdale and Warehaus 57 in Hollywood. The Providence plays an array of venues including Oasis at Sawgrass Mills, Borders and the Chat Room Café. They will appear Friday at Now Art Café from 1-2 a.m. at the City Link Music Fest, performing their originals and accompanying singer-songwriter Genene (see Alternative listing). For a schedule of other performances, visit their Web site at www.theprovidence.net.

Contact: 954/927-9390 or info@theprovidence.net.

Joann Scott

Members: Joann Scott (vocals, guitar).

Comments: Scott primarily is a vocalist, having filled that role for most of this year in City Lizard, a duo with guitarist-vocalist Rob Strauss. After their weekly gig at Ralph & Rosies restaurant in Boynton Beach ended in October, Scott chose to concentrate on a demo recording with help from guitarist Tom Lippincott, bassist Randy Ward and drummer Fred Weng. Scott now flies solo playing originals like the country-tinged Crazy Dog and covers like Kris Kristoffersons Me and Bobby McGee, but she still hopes to form a band.

Contact: 561/586-8628.

Silver Nightingale

Members: Laura Sue Wilansky (flute, vocals).

Comments: Wilansky calls her music flute fusion, a hybrid of jazz, New Age, classical, Brazilian and Celtic music that she performs solo or in a duo, trio or quartet. She plays everywhere from corporate functions and health food stores to Unitarian churches and bookstores like Borders in Coral Springs, where she hosts a monthly Musicians Support Group, which last month celebrated its second anniversary. Wilansky has released an album called Sarabande and has recorded another called Return to Avalon, which she recorded at sacred places in France and England, including Stonehenge. See her Web page at www.silvernightingale.com.

Contact: 954/941-4645.

Skeedlepop

Members: Skeedlepop (guitar, vocals).

Comments: For legal reasons, we agreed not to mention Skeedlepops real name -- hes embroiled in ongoing litigation over a botched surgery -- but suffice it to say, hes a deeply revered figure on the local music scene whose open mikes were a training ground for many area performers in the 1990s. He treats everyone with respect, says South Florida-gone-New York singer-songwriter Kathy Fleischmann. I have always had a problem with stage fright but never at his open mikes because he made everyone feel welcome. [Skeedlepop] is a gentle, kind, considerate, thoughtful and overall magnificent individual whose ethic I highly respect, e-mailed Miami singer-songwriter Diane Ward. His love of music as an expression radiates throughout his performances and in his conversation. Skeedlepops genuine compassion and integrity also shine through his original music, as heard on last years recording Dont Get Your Hopes Up, where hes backed by his talented sons on harmony vocals and guitar. Original songs include the lovely Storms Out of the Season, the wistful Marie -- The Waitress and the humorous title track, which is illustrated by the cover photo of a dejected hound dreaming of T-bones sizzling on the grill. Newly available is the 12-track Rough Cuts but Hardly Bleeding, which consists of originals in their seminal stages. During Skeedlepops live gigs, however, youre more likely to hear his vast repertoire of rousing Irish drinking songs and ballads or classic rock by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Of course, he has to be sure Kellys Pub owner Jim Kelly isnt around when he plays American Pie; Kelly mooned him for playing it. Find Skeedlepop most Saturdays at Kellys Pub in downtown Hollywood, where hes sometimes joined by Outta dBlues bassist and vocalist Deny Rowand. Cue up his Web page at www.skeedlepop.com for info on how to order CDs, or you can always buy them off the bandstand.

Contact: 305/863-6453.

Andy Stein

Members: Andy Stein (vocals, guitar).

Comments: Stein was the last musician to join InHouse, a popular Lake Worth band that played Palm Beach County throughout its 1994-99 tenure. His acoustic playing -- through a maze of pedals that sometimes made him sound like an electric guitarist playing distorted power-chords -- now graces stages alongside vocalist-guitarist Jason Colannino and fellow guitarist Steve Jones. But Stein also does occasional solo gigs and duo outings with former InHouse drummer Bill Meredith on percussion. The guitarists playing is akin to an acoustic John McLaughlin, and regular monthly bookings at the CG Cafe in Lake Worth showcase InHouse tunes, the occasional cover, improvised instrumentals and new songs.

Contact: 561/310-2096.

Gin Weintraub

Members: Gin Weintraub (vocals, guitar).

Comments: Weintraub was the creative force behind InHouse, the rock act she led with her twin sister, Evi. When Evi moved to New York to get married in 1999, the band members went their separate ways, but Weintraub and InHouse guitarist Andy Stein (see above) played together throughout 2001 at places like the CG Cafe in Lake Worth and Duffys in West Palm Beach. Shes also in the pre-production stages of her debut solo CD, but a full schedule as a production manager at West Palm Beachs Kravis Center may push the discs completion into late 2002.

Comments: She really is like the Utah Phillips of Florida, says Marie Nofsinger of her friend and fellow singer-songwriter Caracappa, comparing her to the folk firebrand known for his left-leaning politics and uncompromising music. Nofsinger respects Caracappa so much that she recently wrote a song about her called Valeries Back Yard. Caracappa, who Nofsinger says doesnt want pats on the back, nonetheless was flattered by the song. She talks about how Floridas my back yard and if you mess with it, Caracappa says, youre messing with me. Indeed, Caracappa is a staunch defender of Floridas environment and culture in her music, best exemplified by her now-classic, anti-Walt tirade The Dirty Little Rat That Ate Orlando. This year, Caracappa has been playing like crazy under the name Valerie C. Wisecracker at everything from the Hialeah Arts and Crafts festival to a Green Party rally to northern gigs in Sarasota, Atlanta and Gatlinburg, Tenn. She also lost a partner in song and crime early this year when Brazilian vocalist Angela Patua left Miami for San Diego. The dynamic duo, Caracappa says of herself and the Portuguese-singing woman with whom she spent much of 2000 performing. Nobody else can party that hard. Angela was the party queen. Locally, Caracappa continues to share stages with longtime accompanists Mestel and Malkin, who plays, according to Caracappa, everything you can put around his neck.

Contact: 305/891-3528.

Zac

Members: Zac (vocals, guitar).

Comments: Known to disappear into the Everglades with Haitian voodoo priests to record their ceremonies for use in his music, Zac is certainly someone for whom predictability holds no interest. His performances have incorporated everything from taped loops of his ethnomusicological exploits to applying body paint to those audience members who dare to stand too close to him. For the past couple of years, Zac has been performing undercover as an obnoxious, Tony Clifton-like character named Joey Fagioli at coffee shops and rock clubs such as Churchills, where Fagioli recently emceed Matt Sabatellas CD release party, insulting anyone and everyone within eyesight and earshot.

Contact: 954/747-8242.

Mark Zaden

Members: Mark Zaden (vocals, guitar).

Comments: With a voice that recalls Freedy Johnston at times, Cat Stevens at others, Fort Lauderdale native Zaden performs autobiographical songs that, he says, juxtapose a sensitive view of the human condition with a hard, roots-rock edge. Zaden recently released his second CD, Green Enough to Grow, which he recorded in Brooklyn, N.Y. He says the album is a chronicle of the past two and a half years of his life, although he hopes songs such as Making Other Plans and Goodbye Avalon will hold universal appeal. I want these songs to affect people emotionally, he writes in a press release. I want peoples hearts to swell when they hear them. While theres much electric instrumentation on Green Enough to Grow, in performance, Zaden prefers a stripped-down, emotionally bare setting. Look for him often at Fort Lauderdales Himmarshee Bar and Grill and at Las Olas Riverfront.